Private nonprofit to operate Levinson Center
The state of Maine will no longer provide direct institutional care to people with severe mental retardation.
The state signed a contract with Bangor-based United Cerebral Palsy of Northeastern Maine to take over, as of March 1, operations at the state-owned Elizabeth Levinson Center in Bangor, the which opened in 1971 and is the last of several state-run programs for mentally retarded children, the Bangor Daily News reported. The state spends $3.2 million a year to operate the center and hopes to save money by outsourcing the center's operations to the private nonprofit.
The center has 13 residents and nearly 50 employees, who will be laid off Feb. 28. United Cerebral Palsy hopes to reemploy the workers, if they'll accept a less attractive benefits package, the paper reported.
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